Science Resources

Molecular Workbench (The Concord Consortium) - The complete workbench is a downloadable program that can be modified by the educator and then the students can control the experiments more. However, there is now a selection of “online” HTML 5 experiments and simulations that can be utilized completely online and are Chromebook compatible. This is the link to those resources. The workbench includes Biology, Chemistry and Physics concepts adaptable to many grade levels. (You can also link to the downloadable program and all of the resources available from this webpage on your class website.)

Algodoois an unique 2D-simulation software from Algoryx Simulation AB. Algodoo is designed in a playful, cartoony manner, making it a perfect tool for creating interactive scenes. Explore physics, build inventions, design games or experiment with Algodoo in science classes. Algodoo encourages students creativity, ability and motivation to construct knowledge while having fun. With Algodoo students can create simulation scenes using simple drawing tools like boxes, circles, polygons, gears, brushes, planes, ropes and chains. Students can also add more physics in their simulation like fluids, springs, hinges, motors, thrusters, light rays, tracers, optics and lenses. Algodoo also allows you to explore and play around with different parameters like gravity, friction, restitution, refraction, attraction, etc. (iPAD as well.)

NASA Climate Kids- Platform has resources that connect with 3rd grade - Middle school science standards in Life Science, Earth and Space and Physical Science. The platform includes games, activity resources, videos and educator lesson plans.

PhET Simulations from University of Coloradoprovides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. We extensively test and evaluate each simulation to ensure educational effectiveness. These tests include student interviews and observation of simulation use in classrooms. The simulations are written in Java, Flash or HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded to the computer. All simulations are open source (see our source code). Simulations are all grade levels and subjects are physics, biology, chemistry, earth science and math. Users can play with the simulations without an account. Educators can use an account to keep track of students and simulations.

The Lawrence Hall of Science 24/7 Science is a website that has many STEM resources. Are you a kid who likes to do experiments or play online games? A teacher who needs to add STEM to your favorite lesson plans? A parent or grandparent who wants to share more science fun with your family? An informal educator who plans to expand your site’s hands-on STEM programming? 24/7 Science has activities for all of you, from online games that teach, to curriculum-connected STEM activities, to hands-on fun for all ages! So many questions—and so many ways to find answers! In these interactives, use your hands, feet, eyes, ears, brain, imagination and cool tools to experiment, design, test and discover amazing things about the world around you. It's science and it's fun!

Curiosity Machineis a website that answers questions. What makes scientists and engineers curious? Watch videos of the experts sharing their research and inventions. Find a challenge and try to build it! Follow the engineering design process and document as you plan, build, and test.​ With the engineering design process as a guide, students will plan, build, and test their designs. They’ll document each step on Curiosity Machine, where educators can create groups and add students to see their progress.

​The mission of Understanding Science is to provide a fun, accessible, and free resource that accurately communicates what science is and how it really works. Sponsored by UC Berkley in collaboration with numerous scientific organizations the platform has teacher resources for k-12 and college students. The process of science is exciting, but standard explanations often miss its dynamic nature. Science affects us all everyday, but people often feel cut off from science. Science is an intensely human endeavor, but many portrayals gloss over the passion, curiosity, and even rivalries and pitfalls that characterize all human ventures. Understanding Science gives users an inside look at the general principles, methods, and motivations that underlie all of science.

Energy 2D Software - Energy2D is an interactive, visual multiphysics simulation program that models all three modes of heat transfer—conduction, convection, and radiation, and their coupling with particle dynamics. Energy2D runs very quickly on most computers and eliminates the switches among preprocessors, solvers, and post processors typically needed to perform computational fluid dynamics simulations. It allows you to design "computational experiments" to test a scientific hypothesis or solve an engineering problem without resorting to complex mathematics. The software does require a download on either Windows, Mac or Linux computers. (Android and Chrome iOS versions are being developed.) The program is extremely detailed and comprehensive in real world applications.

Concord Consortium Path Finder - Their STEM Resource Finder features some of the best of free, open source educational activities, models and software tools. Educators can search by keyword or filter by subject, grade level and type to find the right resources for learning goals.**Educators will need to carefully consider where to include these resources in their curriculum to ensure they are aligned properly to their grade level standards.

Push and Pull Resources - Several resources to support early elementary K-PS2-1 standard

Virtual Biology Lab has three Biodiversity Ecology Labs for students to explore how changes can effect the habitats. There is a Island, Stream and Plant model to manipulate. No login is required, the graphics are great and work well with a projector.

​PBS Zoom Goldburger— A website simulation modeled after Rube Goldberg where the ZOOMers were challenged to design a machine that serves lunch to the ZOOM cast and crew. They've called it the Goldburger To Go, and they need your help to finish it. The website also have other resources on Rube Goldberg designs that students can investigate.

Solve the Outbreak—Users in the mission get clues and analyze data to solve the disease outbreak and save lives! Do students quarantine the village? Interview people who are sick? Run more lab tests? The better students answers, the higher they score - and the quicker they will climb the ranks to become a decorated Disease Detective. The games plays on a WEB app, iOS app and Android. The web app site includes lesson plans for MS and HS.

Smithsonian Learning Lab has so much to do at this website it is difficult to know where to start.Discover: The thrill of discovery awaits students at the Smithsonian Learning Lab. From the Discovery space shuttle to the Star Spangled Banner to dinosaur fossils, the Learning Lab gives everyone with a desire to learn the opportunity to explore the Smithsonian's rich resources anytime, anywhere.Create: Educators create personal collections using the Smithsonian's vast resources and add classroom resources or those from other sources. Add notes, develop quizzes or create complete lessons or artistic collections, and build upon each for more personal and memorable learning.Share: Quiz students on the U.S. presidents; awe students with handpicked photographic art and share personalized collections. ​

Smithsonian Education Center - Game Center has science based interactive games for life, physical and Earth and Space content. Below are direct links to each game with their grade levels and content.

Grades 6-8 Earth and Space

Grades 6-8 Physical Science

Grades 5-8 Earth and Space

Grades 1-3 Life Science

Grades K-1 Physical Science

Grades 3-5 Life Science

Grades 3-6 Life Science

Sparticl is designed for teens. Educators will see that in everything from the content to the site features. Accurate and FUN videos, games, articles, interactive demonstrations, and more for 600+ topics, covering the common concepts and terms used in middle school science. Personalization features such as avatars and custom collections. Browseable menu that makes it easy to find all middle school curriculum subjects, and even the science of sports & fun.

Science Buddies empowers K-12 students, parents, and teachers to quickly and easily find free project ideas and help in all areas of science from physics to food science and music to microbiology. Educators can integrate this platform with Google Classroom and create assignments. Lesson ideas, science fair rubrices and other resources are available as well. The platform has a parent resource page as well.

StarGenetics can be used to teach simple genetics concepts that are appropriate for high school biology students as well as complex genetics concepts that are appropriate for advanced biology undergraduate students.In addition, StarGenetics allows for instructors to customize the exercises presented to the student.​ StarGenetics simulates genetic experiments using known model organisms such as Mendel's garden peas, flies (Drosophila melanogaster), and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). StarGenetics simulate crosses in cows, which can be use to explore traits in organisms with similar genetics to humans. In addition,

TED Ed Periodic Table of Elements VIDEOS is a complete collection of Ted Ed videos on all the periodic table of elements. Each of these videos also have lessons attached to them from TEDEd so that educators can have students dive deeper and answer questions on the elements or have further discussion on questions based on the elements.

StemReadis from Northern Illinois University (NIU). Carefully selected books rooted in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics and explore the science behind the fiction. A selection of activities to go along with each one, lesson plans and videos to support the books. Since the creators of this platform are in Illinois, they also offer PD opportunities and local contacts. Checkout their contact information and signup for their email list.

McGrawHill frog dissection is virtual external and internal dissection of the frog with auditory and visual tour step-by-step through the process. Vocabulary is shown on the screen, but now closed caption for the auditory portion is available. Very detailed and clear. Easy for users to operate and repeat a section if necessary. No login necessary to use the platform.

Journey North is a global study the allows educators and students to share in the observation and study of seasons and migration data for many species across the world. The platform has resources to get a class started on either watching the data or collecting and contributing from anywhere in the world. Calculate season changes or follow butterflies or robins. Follow what is in your location and what is going on around the world.

3M Innovation Headquarters- The platform has lessons, videos, interactive activities and virtual labs for K-12 grade on a variety of science content. Electricity, Energy and Weather are some of the virtual labs available. Lesson plans and other resources are available for educators to accompany the interactive activities on the platform.

Virtual Labsis a platform developed by a collaboration of several universities to bring interactive science labs to education. There are eight labs that help students learn basic laboratory techniques and practice methods used by lab technicians and researchers in a variety of careers, using specific food science lab processes. Expert lab technicians help make sure that the food we eat and feed to our animals will not harm us or our livestock. Students are the "assistants" in the experiments. There are additional information provided throughout the video process by clicking on the "!" information button. All text is read and the movements from the user can be done using an interactive whiteboard.

Star in a Box—An interactive webapp which animates stars with different starting masses as they change during their lives. Some stars live fast-paced, dramatic lives, others change very little for billions of years. The webapp visualizes the changes in mass, size, brightness and temperature for all these different stages. It allows a user to examine snapshots of a star's position on the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) - the primary diagram used by astronomers to study evolution within stellar populations and to see how stellar parameters relate to one another.